Ink well or holder



(No Model.)

W. E. LEWIS. INK WELL 0R HOLDER.

' No. 542,482. l Patented July 9,1895.

I Unirrsn STATES PATENT rrrcn.

WILLIAM E. LEWIS, OF COREY, PENNSYLVANIA.

INK WELL OR HOLDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 542,482, dated July 9,1895.

' Application filed December 8, 1893, Serial No. 493,119. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAMVE. LEWIS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Corry, in the county of Erie and State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Ink Wells or Holders;and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in invertible ink wells orholders; and it contemplates the improvement of that class of wells orholders formed from glass with a central conical depending flange in itstop, having a correspondingshaped pen aperture through it, as it is wellknown that this form of holder is very desirable in that it will permitof being inverted so as to prevent any unnecessary waste of ink byevaporation when the bottle is not in use, and will also prevent in ameasure the forming of sediment and the like in the bottom of the wellbelow the penaperture. A bottle of the character referred to has beenpatented, but has been found objectionable, first, in that it isdifficult to fill; secondly, it will only prevent loss by evaporationwhen inverted, and it is very rarely that the user thinks of invertingthe bottle or holder, and, thirdly, it is difi'icult to clean of thesediment and other matter which forms in the bottom when not regularlyinverted after use, and which sediment takes to the pen when inserted.

In Letters Patent granted to me under date of December 5, 1893, No.509,917, I have dis closed a construction of ink-well which, althoughnot invertible, employs a buoyant valve or ball which will at all times,as long as there is ink in the well, keep the pen-aperture closed. Awell thus constructed is expensive to manufacture, as the body only canbe made of one piece and the top must be made of a a separate piece, andthe top must be removable in order to insert the ball. I find inmanufacturing such a well that the tops should be secured very tightlyon the body, so much so as to prevent a user from removing the top, andthis makes it objectionable in cleaning, as in some ink the sedimentwill form very quickly.

I have illustrated my improvements by a perspective View of the well, inFigure 1 of the drawings, and a vertical central sectional View in Fig.2.

The body, which is molded or otherwise formed from glass, is indicatedby A and has a lower thickened base a, the comparatively thin side walls6 rising from the base, and the topf, which slopes gradually from theupper edge of the wall 6 toward the center and thence extends into thebody with a conical or approximately-conical depending flange g, with apen-aperture it through it of a corresponding shape. This much of theconstruction isof the type heretofore used and patented, and I improvethis form by providing the thickened base with avertical centralaperture 1), which is disposed directly below the penaperture and of amuch greater diameter than the latter, for a purpose which willpresently appear. The top walls of this central base aperture arebeveled or rounded,as shown,and form an inclosure C, the ink-chamber Cbeing formed above the thickened base. WVithin this base aperture is aremovable stopper B, which is preferably composed of rubber, although itmay be of other suitable material.

I indicates a hollow ball. This ball is made of hard rubber, or thelike, and is designed to close the pen-aperture at all times, whetherthe well is in a position for use or it has been inverted when not inuse. The ball must of course be of a greater diameter than the penaperture, and the base aperture I) must be of a slightly-greaterdiameter than that of the ball to allow the said ball to be inserted,and

by disposing theinserting-aperture b directly below the pen-aperture andbeveling the up per walls, as shown, the ball may be driven stopper inthe base and the buoyant ball or valve I get all of the advantages ofthe bottles heretofore formed from glass and adapted to be invertedwithout the disadvantages of such bottles or wells, and I furthermoreget the benefits of allowing the bottle or well to be easily filled,quickly and thoroughly cleaned with but little exertion, and Iabsolutely avoid any loss of the ink by evaporation, whether the well isin a position for use or in an inverted position.

I am well aware that it is old, as shown in the patent of one Shenston,No. 144,929, to exclude air from an ink-well when it is inverted byproviding a receptacle containing quicksilver to receive the pen-tube ofthe well when the same is turned upside down, and I therefore make noclaim to the same; but

WVhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

An invertible ink Well formed from glass and having its entire bodycomposed of a single piece with its top having a central dependingconical flange and its bottom a central, vertical aperture disposedbelow the pen aperture which extends through the conical flange of amuch greater diameter than said pen aperture and adapted to serve as aninclosure for the buoyant ball stopper, a stopper removably placed inthe base aperture, and the aforesaid buoyant stopper limited in itsmovements by the wall of the base aperture and adapted, by reason of itsbuoyancy to antomatically close the pen aperture when the well is in itsoperative position and also adapted by reason of gravity toautomatically seat over and close the pen aperture when the well isinverted, whereby the well is automatically rendered air tight at alltimes, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM E. LEWIS. Witnesses:

JOHN CROWLEY, D. M. SULLIVAN.

